Geoffrey Dawson
Geoffrey Dawson | |
---|---|
Born | George Geoffrey Robinson 25 October 1874 Skipton-in-Craven, Yorkshire, England |
Died | 7 November 1944 London, England | (aged 70)
Education | Magdalen College, Oxford |
Occupation(s) | Civil servant, editor |
George Geoffrey Dawson (25 October 1874 – 7 November 1944) was editor of The Times from 1912 to 1919 and again from 1923 until 1941. His original last name was Robinson, but he changed it in 1917. He married Hon. Margaret Cecilia Lawley, daughter of Arthur Lawley, 6th Baron Wenlock, in 1919.
Early life
Dawson was born 25 October 1874, in
As Milner's assistant, Dawson participated in the establishment of British administration in South Africa in the aftermath of the
Career in journalism
Milner wanted to ensure the support of the local newspapers after his return to England. He persuaded the owners of the
Dawson was unhappy, however, with the way that Northcliffe used the paper as an instrument to further his own personal political agenda and broke with him, stepping down as editor in February 1919. Dawson returned to the post in 1923 after Lord Northcliffe's death, when the paper's ownership had passed to
In his second stint as editor, Dawson began to use the paper in the same manner as Lord Northcliffe had once done, to promote his own agenda. He also became a leader of a group of journalists that sought to influence national policy by private correspondence with leading statesmen. Dawson was close to both Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain. He was a prominent proponent and supporter of appeasement policies, after Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. He was a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship.[7] Candid news despatches from Berlin by Norman Ebbutt that warned of warmongering were rewritten in London to support the appeasement policy.[8][9] Dawson explained to Lord Lothian on 23 May 1937: "I should like to get going with the Germans. I simply cannot understand why they should apparently be so much annoyed with The Times at this moment. I spend my nights in taking out anything which I think will hurt their susceptibilities and in dropping little things which are intended to soothe them".[10]
In March 1939, however, The Times reversed course and called for war preparations.
Works
- . The Empire and the century. London: John Murray. 1905. pp. 521–538.
References
- ^ Oxford University Calendar 1905, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1902, pp. 119, 175.
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography 1941–1950, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1959, p.204.
- ^ Dictionary of National Biography 1941–1950, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1959, p. 204.
- ISBN 9780218512922.
- ISBN 978-085255773-0.
- ^ Marlowe, Milner, Apostle of Empire, pg. 213
- ISBN 978-1-58574-154-0.
- ^ Gordon Martel, ed. The Times and Appeasement: The Journals of A L Kennedy, 1932–1939 (2000).
- ^ Frank McDonough, "The Times, Norman Ebbut and the Nazis, 1927–37." Journal of Contemporary History 27#3 (1992): 407–424.
- ^ Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 850.
- ^ Office of the Times (1952). The History of The Times: The 150th Anniversary and Beyond 1912–1948 2:960-63.
Sources
- Fleming, N. C. "The Press, Empire and Historical Time: The Times and Indian self-government, c. 1911–47." Media History 16.2 (2010): 183–198.
- McDonough, Frank. "The Times, Norman Ebbut and the Nazis, 1927–37." Journal of Contemporary History 27#3 (1992): 407–424.
- Martel, Gordon, ed. The Times and Appeasement: The Journals of A L Kennedy, 1932–1939 (2000).
- The Office of the Times. The History of The Times: The 150th Anniversary and Beyond 1912–1948 (2 vol. 1952), passim.
- Riggs, Bruce Timothy. "Geoffrey Dawson, editor of "The Times" (London), and his contribution to the appeasement movement" (PhD dissertation, U of North Texas, 1993) online, bibliography pp 229–33.
- Wrench, John Evelyn (1955). Geoffrey Dawson and our times. Hutchinson.
- Marlowe, John. Milner, Apostle of Empire, London: Hamish Hamilton, 1976